Louis Hernandez Jr. Gets New Gig: Avid President/CEO

A month after Open Solutions was sold to Fiserv, Louis Hernandez Jr. has landed at Avid, a publicly traded, dominant developer and provider of video and audio technology.

Hernandez, a member of the Burlington, Mass., company’s board since 2008, will now be its president and CEO.

At Avid, Hernandez succeeds Gary Greenfield, who will remain on the board, Avid said in its announcement.

"Louis is a visionary, inspirational leader with a stellar track record of driving the operations and growth of technology companies in a variety of industries," said Avid Board Chairman George Billings.

"As lead director, he spent years developing a deep familiarity with Avid's customers, markets, and products that will allow him to quickly make a positive impact as chief executive,” Billings said in a company statement.

Hernandez, in the announcement, said, “As the industry leader for more than 25 years, Avid continues to set the standard for non-linear-editing, media management, and collaboration in the audio, video, and broadcast markets. The company is well positioned for growth and global expansion in this fast-moving marketplace. It is exciting to be working with the Avid team, as we drive results and value for our customers, employees, and shareholders."

Avid’s digital audio and video technology is used to make feature films, music recordings, and television shows and on live concert tours and news broadcasts.

In a comment on the Avid Community Blog, Hernandez said, "What interested me about Avid is that technology should bring humans closer together, and bring more joy. In this case, someone has the idea of creating content for the enjoyment of another person, and Avid’s role lies somewhere in between there in trying to facilitate that."

As for core processor provider Open Solutions, Hernandez said last week in an email to media contacts, “I was strongly supportive of the (Fiserv) transaction and continue to advise Jeff Yabuki, president and CEO of Fiserv, and the integration team on what I think is an exciting next phase for the DNA community as part of a fantastic platform and company in Fiserv.

“I will continue to advocate for financial institutions and you will likely see me around industry events.”